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'WHO WAS G. W.?" 



V 



u 



Out of the World " Series No. IV. 



WHO WAS G. W.?' 



A TRUTHFUL TALE 



ftfyz §>et>mtl) Hegtment in tfy #rmorp, 

During tty Katljroao ^trtte 

in 3lul& 1877* 

REPRINTE^D FROM "THE WORLW\ 



• ! o. kk.Q...M ' 

NEW-YORK: 1879. 



r 



[Note. — The following history appears here substan- 
tially as it was printed in The World, with the addition 
of a prologue and such few alterations as were necessary 
to avoid breaking the continuity of the narrative.] 



Copyright, 1879, by The World. 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Prologue. — How the Story came to 

BE TOLD 5 

I. Camp Hardscrabble's Inception .... 9 

II. The Discovery of the immortal 

"gag" "Who was G. W.?" 24 

III. Visit of the Great Communist. — 

The Men under Arms 35 

IV. Discovery and Perpetration of 

Polo. — The Boys on Strike 56 

V. The Mock Parade. — Breaking up 
of Camp Hardscrabble 67 



PROLOGUE. 



J'AIME LE MILITAIRE," sang 
Phillis gaily, with plumes of cardinal 
flower nodding quaintly in her hat, and 
marching firmly up and down the bank, 
where I lay looking at the ripples on the 
lake, and watching the little patches of 
sunshine flickering down between the 
leaves and dancing on the grass. 

" You have good reason for that. Bet- 
ter than you have for most of your likes 
and dislikes, at least," growled the family 
Mentor from a post on the rocks above, 
where he sat, looking like the " lone 
fisherman." 



" Because ? " interrogated Phillis. 

"Because," echoes the Mentor. "You 
landed Jack there, all because he was 
' spooney' and plunged over the brink, — 
where he had been hovering for weeks, — 
the night he was sent for to join his regi- 
ment, when the railroad men struck, last 
year." 

" Yes, I think that did have something 
to do with it," replied Phillis demurely; 
" but then you see," with sudden inspira- 
tion, "he was sure to have done it some 
time or other. Were n't you, Jack ? " 

I grin, and shy a stone into the lake, 
without replying. 

" I hate engaged men," says the Mentor 
viciously. "They are always like Moham- 
med's coffin, suspended between heaven 
and earth. Having rashly abjured bachelor 
privileges and divertisements, and not yet 
having attained to the delights of married 
life, they are the most miserable creatures 
in existence. Pah ! " 



" It 's a blessing that we don't know what 
pitiable wretches we are," I exclaim. 

"Jack," says Phillis, "tell me again all 
about Camp Hardscrabble. I like to hear 
it." 

" Oh Lord ! He thinks that story is 
part of his romance. I decline to hear it 
again ; " and the Mentor disappears in the 
primeval forest. Reader, you may accom- 
pany the wise Mentor and make your 
escape into the woods, or stay with Phillis 
and hear my story. This is it. 




"Are not you moved, when all the sway of Earth 
Shakes like a thing unfirm ? " 

Julius Cesar. 

r | A HE anxiety and apprehension which 
■*■ pervaded New- York City on Mon- 
day morning, the 23d of July, 1877, were 
greater than they had ever been since the 
dread days in the summer of 1863, when 
the city was actually powerless in the 
hands of a mob. 

Thousands of railroad employes in va- 
rious parts of the country had struck work, 
and were being joined at the most eligible 
points by a vast army of tramps who were 
eager to share in the plunder which might 
9 



IO 

accrue from the acts of violence and pil- 
lage to which demagogues sought to incite 
the strikers. Railroad and mail commu- 
nication between the East and West was 
entirely suspended; the great trunk lines 
were in the hands of the mob of strikers 
at most important points, and in some 
cases the telegraph lines were down. 
There had been violence and bloodshed in 
other cities, and at Pittsburg the collision 
between the mob and the militia had 
resulted in the rout of the latter. 

The red flag of the Commune had been 
raised in New- York, inflammatory procla- 
mations printed and circulated, and a mass 
meeting called in Tompkins Square for 
Wednesday night. There was good reason 
to fear the result of bringing together so 
much inflammable material to be exposed 
to the firebrands which demagogues were 
preparing to hurl in its midst. 

Added to this, there came the startling 
thought into many minds that a leader 



II 

might be found for these disorganized 
mobs who would lead them to avail them- 
selves of their manifest advantage in hav- 
ing virtually cut the country in two, and 
thus enable them to remain masters of the 
situation. 

That these were not idle fears, men were 
assured of by the fact that the President 
of the United States had called around him 
his Cabinet, and that they had seriously 
considered the extreme measure of a sus- 
pension of the habeas corpus. This action 
was postponed for a day, and the Presi- 
dent issued a proclamation preparatory to 
declaring martial law in several of the 
States where the insurrection was most 
formidable. The Secretaries of War and 
of the Navy began to prepare for more 
serious possibilities. Military and naval 
stores were hastily prepared, and the com- 
manders of the forces, by land and sea, 
received telegraphic orders to hold them- 
selves in readiness for immediate service. 



12 

Meanwhile, business was almost entirely 
suspended, and the members of the busi- 
ness community, in their enforced idleness, 
could only seek eagerly for the latest 
news, and discuss the situation with gloomy 
forebodings. Men were thankful that their 
families were safely located in the quietude 
of the country, and those whose families 
were in the city instructed them to remain 
at home. The streets were almost entirely 
deserted, and the broiling July sun lay 
along the sidewalks unbroken by the usual 
passing shadows. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon of that 
day, Adj utant- General Townsend received 
the following dispatch at his head-quarters 
in Albany, from Oneonta, N. Y. : 

I am on my way to Albany. You will direct 
the major-general of each division in the State to 
hold his command in readiness for service at 
a moment's notice, subject to my orders. 

(Signed) L. Robinson, Governor. 

When this announcement reached the 
city, coupled with the declaration of the 



13 

Governor that he would, if necessary, 
call for 100,000 volunteers, in addition to 
the 28,000 members of the National 
Guard, a revulsion of public feeling was 
at once experienced. The confidence of 
the people of the city in their crack regi- 
ments was always unbounded, and they 
began to have a returning confidence in 
the speedy triumph of the law, when it 
was backed by bayonets. 

The Adjutant- General, through his 
assistant, Colonel Alfred H. Taylor, im- 
mediately transmitted the Governor's 
order by telegraph to the head-quarters of 
the division commanders throughout the 
State. The following was received at the 
head-quarters of the First Division : 

Major- General Alexander Shaler, Commanding 
First Division, N. G. S. N. Y., No. ijs 
Mercer Street : 

The Commander-in-Chief directs that you have 
your entire command ready for service, and hold 
them subject to his orders. 

Franklin Townsend, 

Adjutant-General. 



14 

Colonel Carl Jussen, Division Inspector 
and Acting Assistant Adjutant- General 
to General Shaler, at once prepared the 
following, which was issued at 4.55 P. M. : 

Head-quarters First Division, \ 
N. G. S. N. Y., 

New- York, July 23, 1877. ) 
General Orders, No. 6. 

In obedience to orders from the Commander-in- 
Chief, the division will assemble, armed and fully 
equipped, at the armories of the several organiza- 
tions without delay. 

By order of Major-General Alexander Shaler. 
Carl Jussen, 
Colonel and Division Inspector. 

By telegraph and special messenger the 
orders were very promptly carried to the 
several armories, as well as to the resi- 
dences of the colonels and commanding 
officers. By 7 o'clock the news had be- 
come generally known, and the men 
poured into the armories at a lively rate. 

During the entire evening soldiers in 
uniform and others bearing soldierly ac- 
couterments filled the streets which had 



i5 

been so nearly deserted all day. Occa- 
sionally a cheer would greet a passing 
group of the Seventh's boys, and again a 
suppressed murmur of disapproval would 
go up, but neither interfered with their 
hastily seeking the armory in Tompkins 
Market. 

Here even those who arrived earliest 
found that the call for the assembling of 
the regiment had been anticipated by 
Colonel Emmons Clark, who had issued 
an order during the afternoon for the 
assembling of a guard of fifty men at the 
armory. This was done in accordance 
with his invariable custom at times when 
great excitement prevails in the city, in 
order that no person shall obtain from the 
armory any arms or ammunition by force 
or otherwise. The wisdom of this action 
was seen at once in that Colonel Clark, 
when he reached the armory, had 
already at his hand fifty men to be used 
as a guard and in notifying the members 



i6 

of the regiment that they were wanted. 
The first movement made was to send for 
two howitzers which belong to the regi- 
ment but which had been for some time 
lying in the State Arsenal, and they were 
at once placed in position to command 
the entrance to the armory. A lieutenant 
of the Second Company, who was officer 
of the guard, immediately sent out mes- 
sengers in search of the members of the 
regiment, and they began to come in at 
once. As fast as the non-commissioned 
officers arrived they were posted off in 
hot haste to notify the men, who then 
began to arrive in numbers. The guard 
placed over the doors was quadrupled as 
the crowd collected in the street outside, 
and strict orders were given that no one 
should be admitted to the armory except 
the members of the regiment and of the 
veteran corps. The men hastened to 
don their uniforms, many of them putting 
on their knapsacks and getting ready for 



i7 

active service at once. They soon dis- 
carded again everythingbut their shirts — it 
was hot. Still, the men kept coming, many 
of them bringing large traveling-bags, 
and evidently prepared to stay in the 
armory or go anywhere else for an indefi- 
nite period. The members of the veteran 
corps came to the front almost as 
promptly as the active members, and 
not a few white haired and mustached 
veterans donned their uniforms and pre- 
pared for the fray. Queries as to what 
they were to do or where to go were on 
every man's tongue. Meanwhile the 
friends of the members who had accompa- 
nied them to the armory and were unable 
to gain admission, and the idlers and 
others attracted to the spot to the number 
of several hundred, effectually blockaded the 
street, and the captain of the Seventeenth 
Police Precinct appeared on the scene at 
10.30 with a file of reserves, and cleared 
the street without the slightest opposition. 



i8 

At ii o'clock nearly 500 men were 
assembled in the armory, and telegrams 
were being received from men out of 
town, all of whom were coming by first 
train, so that it was expected 1,000 men 
of the active and veteran organizations 
would be on hand by 10 A. M. the follow- 
ing day. The boys started a piano going 
in one of the company rooms, and glees 
and carols were given lustily, but the 
more phlegmatic men, taking their over- 
coats for pillows, stretched themselves on 
the floor and on benches to sleep, saying, 
" If they had work to do, they'd need it, 
and if not it couldn't hurt them." 

But their slumbers were not undisturbed 
by any means, for all night long perturbed 
spirits walked the night in light and airy 
attire, and mischievous ones began to give 
indications of the carnival of fun which 
was soon to be inaugurated. 

The stillness of midnight which fell upon 
the streets, as nearly deserted as the 



19 

streets of a metropolitan city ever are, 
made audible throughout the armory the 
clatter of hoofs as some non-commissioned 
officer, transformed for the nonce into 
an amateur Paul Revere, "booted and 
spurred," reined up at the door after an 
equestrian tour of the city, in search of 
absent members or knowledge as to their 
whereabouts. Until long after midnight, 
coupes and carriages flew around the cor- 
ner, and drew up at the door of the armory 
with a crash, which was followed by ring 
of steel as the bayonets of the quadru- 
pled guard unlocked and locked again, 
admitting to the hall new-comers, as full 
of curiosity as is natural in men summoned 
suddenly from a summering by lake or 
ocean side, and called upon to exchange 
the touch of soft hands in gentle dalliance 
for a grip of steel and readiness for stern 
work. 

Many had good cause to wear the faces 
of knights of the rueful countenance, but 



20 

none did. To a set of business and pro- 
fessional men and clerks, called from com- 
fortable homes in the city or in the 
cool suburbs, the intolerable heat of 
midsummer in a suffocating armory, with- 
out beds or bedding other than that pro- 
verbial and much-sought " soft side," 
which a plank is popularly supposed to, 
but rarely does, possess, might well have 
been appalling, or at any rate irritating. 
The period over which this confinement 
might extend was also pleasingly indefinite, 
and in many cases, doubtless, involved 
serious questions of personal and profes- 
sional engagements, likely to be broken at 
no small cost. Not a man of them, how- 
ever, seemed to give such considerations a 
moment's thought. The appearance of 
every new-comer was hailed with accla- 
mations of delight, and he invariably 
doffed his citizens' dress, and donned his 
uniform in the enthusiasm of the mo- 
ment, only to follow the example of his 



21 

predecessors in a few brief moments, dur- 
ing which it might be proper to say, meta- 
phorically, that his enthusiasm was cooled, 
and reduce his habiliments to a minimum. 
But to say literally that anything or any- 
body in that armory was cool, cooled, or 
cooling during the ensuing four days, 
would be mendacious, to say the least. 

All through the night the " boys " came 
pouring into the armory, singly and in 
twos and threes. Each man, after eagerly 
asking the regulation question, " Are we to 
go away ? " and receiving the stereotyped 
answer that no such orders had been as 
yet received, had his own story to tell. 
Some had been out late, and found their 
orders upon a return home at an early 
hour in the morning; these, as a rule, 
found their explanations superfluous, 
the facts were axiomatic. Others had 
come in by late trains, some by milk 
trains from summer resting-places by the 
Hudson, or in the .cooling everglades of 



22 

Jersey, or the sandy beaches of Long 
Island. 

Later arrivals came from Newport, Long 
Branch, Lake George and Saratoga. These 
had in not a few touching instances been 
rudely recalled from dreams of love to 
deeds of war, and could be found in cor- 
ners far, or as far as it was possible to get, 
from the " madding crowd," conning 
over delicate missives, written in the 
Anglo-Boston hand, or pouring into the 
ears of their sympathizing and confi- 
dential friends the tale of their interrupted 
summer romance. 

It is not only fair to suppose, but it may 
in some instances be recorded as a fact, 
that the startling cry, which the W. U. T. 
and the A. & P's instruments emitted at 
their termini, " To arms, to arms," led 
many of the boys to arms, which they 
were loth to leave precipitately. In these 
instances, their tardy wooing had reached 
a climax precipitated by feminine fears of 



23 

danger to the knights summoned thus sud- 
denly from carpet to field. 

It can hardly be said that the armory 
became quiet at any time during the 
night. At the regular intervals the guards 
were changed, and this made some noise, 
while sleep did not come easily to the eye- 
lids of many of the members unaccustomed 
to overcoats for pillows and blankets for 
beds on a night when coolest linen soon 
became heated and uncomfortable. 

The atmosphere of the armory was 
superheated by numberless gas-lights 
and by the presence of so many hundred 
human beings, to a point almost beyond 
endurance; but the boys, instead of growl- 
ing, rambled about, chatting, and here and 
there poker parties were organized. 




II. 



QO THE watches of the night wore on, 
^ and the men were astir early in the 
bright midsummer dawn. Washing facili- 
ties were in great demand, but scarce. The 
matter of toilet did not, however, deeply 
concern their minds, which were much- 
more exercised over the important ques- 
tion of breakfast. Where and how was 
this to be obtained ? The commissary, 
however, proved equal to the occasion, and 
the boys were marched out in squads to 
breakfast at neighboring restaurants, with 
whose proprietors arrangements had has- 
tily been concluded. 



24 



25 

Among so many men there was to 
be found, of course, a variety of talent and 
accomplishments which could be turned to 
account in the way of divertisement for the 
multitude who, less favored, could only 
contribute their quota of energetic second- 
ing and enthusiastic appreciation of the fun. 
Beginning in the company rooms, the 
spirit of mirth soon became general 
throughout the regiment as the men took 
advantage of the unusual opportunity for 
cultivating the acquaintance of comrades 
in other companies whom they were not 
in the habit of meeting on drill nights. 
The " gags " of each company soon be- 
came the property of the regiment, and as 
they met with general favor, could be 
heard in all parts of the building. 

The "Seventh Regiment Sky-rocket," as 
the boys call it, consists of a unanimous 
whistling sound, a tremendous explosion, 
and the anxious sigh of gratification likely 
to assist at the successful termination of 



26 

any rocket's career. The sounds are some- 
thing like this : 

" Swish-h-h-h — (prolonged). Boom! 
— Ah-h-h-h," and when emitted in con- 
cert are startlingly realistic. 

This was kept going with really won- 
derful pertinacity and enthusiasm ; the 
men in all parts of the building picked up 
the " cue," no matter how frequently or 
from what quarter it was received, and 
kept " whooping her up " with a will. 
Gradually it seemed as though the men 
were becoming fairly intoxicated with ex- 
citement, and their unfailing flow of ani- 
mal spirits incessantly bubbled over like 
champagne. Higher and higher rose the 
tide of innocent revelry, until fun held 
high carnival in all parts of the building 
as the hours wore away. 

The day was if anything even warmer 
than its predecessor, and the broiling sun 
beat down upon the roof above the main 
drill-room, making the armory hotter than 



27 

a furnace. As the sun moved away on its 
daily round, many of the boys sat out on the 
cornice under their second-story windows, 
smoking and cocking up striped-stockinged 
feet at all the world. The armory was 
rigidly guarded both as to egress and 
ingress, written passes being in all cases 
required. People passed without stopping 
much to look up. Eight hundred men 
were shut in there by evening, large re-en- 
forcements arriving constantly, and a more 
happy, high-spirited crowd it would be 
difficult to find. Colonel Clark sat in his 
little office, which commands the main 
hall, and viewed the scene with the great- 
est pride and amusement. The favorite 
costume was a pair of trousers and an 
undershirt without sleeves. 

When dinner-time arrived, Delmonico's 
waiters came hurrying in with big baskets 
and trays, and long tables were set in the 
large drill-room, and the men were 
marched in to a cold lunch of meats and 



28 

bread and iced coffee. The arrival of the 
waiters was hailed with demonstrations of 
unbounded joy by the hungry crowd, who 
gave vent to a display of vocal pyrotech- 
nics which greatly disturbed the imper- 
turbability of the statuesque French gar- 
fons, whose Gallic oaths, not loud, but 
deep, gave indisputable evidence of their 
lack of appreciation of American humor. 
At 7, a similar meal was served to them, 
which, as one of them said, " was n't such 

d d variety, but it tasted good." The 

howitzers were taken into the drill- room, 
and the men drilled in their use, and, with 
one thing and another, the day wore away. 
Watching the horse- cars was one of the 
standing amusements, but the game 
of draw-poker, according to Minister 
Schenck's rules, was the chief. In the 
officers' parlor was the head-quarters of 
all the fun. At least three hundred men 
were assembled there that night, ranged 
about the piano in a semicircle ten deep, 



29 

and singing and dancing with great gusto. 
" Way down on the Swanee River " was 
called for. Immediately a young man in 
a skeleton of an undershirt volunteered a 
solo. His voice broke on the second 
note, and a derisive shout settled him. A 
score of suggestions were volunteered, 
and in a second all was drowned in a 
" sky-rocket," which was given with a 
will. " The Sailor Boy " and the Gen- 
darme song to original words met with 
great favor, and for a double clog which 
was volunteered, every man beat time or 
" spatted " until the roof rang with the 
tumult. 

From the invisible treasure-house which 
yielded all the necessary material for for- 
warding the sports of the day, some one 
drew a set of boxing-gloves, which at 
once became the center of attraction for 
the party. Invitations to " knock a chip 
off my shoulder " were responded to by 
inquiries as to "who struck Billy Patter- 



30 

son ? " It was not long before a match 
was arranged with much hilarity and no 
little facetiousness in regard to the terms 
and stakes. Suggestions as to the desir- 
ability of " steaks," which had been 
conspicuous by their absence from the 
day's bill of fare, were received with 
groans for the unfortunate punster, and a 
suggestion to " put him out " was gravely 
carried into effect before time was called 
for the boxing, which then began. 

The general physical standard of the 
Seventh Regiment is very greatly misun- 
derstood by the country at large. The fact 
that the regiment is largely composed of 
merchants and professional men who do 
not earn their living by manual labor is as 
widely known as is the name of the organi- 
zation, and this fact has, not unnaturally, 
led many persons to suppose that the 
men would not be very formidable adver- 
saries to cope with, were it not that intelli- 
gence and pluck more than made up for 



31 

that supposed deficiency in " fighting 
weight." The fact is, however, that a 
very large number of the men, while they 
are not, it is true, physically developed by 
daily manual labor, are the very first among 
New- York's amateur athletes, almost every 
athletic, boat, and yacht club and gymna- 
sium in the city being represented in the 
regiment. Any one who saw them rambling 
around the armory by scores in sleeveless 
gauze shirts, and marked the strong mus- 
cular backs and shoulders, well- developed 
arms, and the play of the muscles under 
the clear, healthy-looking skins, sur- 
mounted by clean-cut heads and bright, 
intelligent, manly faces, would have 
learned that brawn as well as brains 
enters largely into the composition of 
New- York's crack regiment. 

- Two of these athletic fellows proceeded 
to pummel each other lustily with the 
gloves until they were both exhausted, 
evanescent witticisms and facetious re- 



32 

marks of an encouraging nature being 
showered upon them by the crowd of 
bystanders even more thickly than were 
each other's blows. Other contests and 
" set-to's " followed, and the crowd, 
toward midnight, dropped off to their 
respective company rooms. 

It was on this memorable day that an 
event of no little moment occurred. The 
name of the inventor of the great Seventh 
Regiment conundrum is, unfortunately, 
lost to the world. The origin of the im- 
mortal query is wrapped in mystery as 
deep and impenetrable as is the authorship 
of the Letters of Junius or the origin of 
species. That this will be a matter of 
as keen regret in the future to the histo- 
rian and the antiquary as it is at the 
moment to the reader and the writer there 
can be little doubt. It will always, how- 
ever, be a source of pride and gratifica- 
tion to its originator, whoever he may be, 
and he will undoubtedly feel in articulo 



33 

mortis, to paraphrase the late A. Ward, 
that he has not lived in vain — but in 
New- York. At a time when there was a 
momentary lull in the storm of jollity, a 
voice from some quarter of the room 
shouted out the conundrum, " Who WAS 
George Washington ? " This elicited 
from a score of near-by and evidently sapi- 
ent throats the answer, in a school-boy's 
sing-song, "First in war, first in peace, 
first in the hearts of his countrymen" which 
was immediately followed by a break- 
down danced with the greatest vigor, 
the audible result being something like 
this : Slam i tee slam bang, bang, bang ! 
For an instant there followed the hush of 
pleased astonishment, and then, with a 
roar of delight, the regiment made a rush 
in a body toward the quarter from whence 
the sounds described had proceeded. It 
was, although perhaps open to the objec- 
tion of being, like all true American 
humor, slightly irreverent, a stroke of 



34 

genius. In five minutes it had been re- 
peated as many times, new voices each 
time swelling the choral response and 
twice as many additional feet assisting at 
the break- down, until the roof rang with 
the sound and the floor trembled under 
the repeated shocks. 

The regiment had adopted the gag as 
its very own. 

From that time forth there was hardly 
an hour of the day, nor even of the night, 
that this conundrum was not asked, and 
answered a score of times by grinning 
hundreds. It became thereafter the key- 
note to all the festivities during the 
encampment. 

Again, the " head devils " of the regi- 
ment made night hideous, notwithstanding 
the good-natured growls of the sleepy- 
heads. 



III. 



"TT 7EDNESDAY morning broke at last, 
; * bringing with it that undefined 
sense of impending danger which makes 
the air at times portentous, but it pro- 
duced little effect upon the boys. The 
scene was changed a little, and the officers' 
assembly room, in which the previous 
night the boys disported themselves, bore 
the sign " Brigade Head-quarters," and 
had been taken possession of by Brigadier 
General Varian and staff. A guard was 
mounted over the door to keep out intrud- 
ers, which added another warlike element 
to the scene. There was a prospect of 
work to do that night, but no indication 



36 

of the fact could be found anywhere in the 
armory. 

Breakfast was a little variation of the 
monotony of Tuesday's bill of fare, and 
consisted of eggs, rolls and coffee. After 
that important ceremony, Companies B 
and I drilled together as one company in 
the large drill-room, making an imposing 
show of seventy- five files front. They 
drilled sans jackets, and the movements of 
loading and firing and charge bayonets 
and charging on the advance were exe- 
cuted with the precision of clock-work. 
During this drill a catastrophe of a most 
serious nature occurred. Mr. Delmonico 
declared when called upon to feed the 
regiment that the " boys " should have the 
best of everything in his house, and accord- 
ingly the finest French china and cut 
glass were provided for their use. When 
the drill was in progress the waiters were 
requested to move the table on which 
these articles were, and in so doing they 



37 

upset the frail structure, and demolished 
seven or eight hundred plates and goblets. 
The crash was frightful, and brought 
every man in the armory to an "attention." 
The usual card-playing was, however, soon 
resumed, and draw-poker passed away the 
time quickly for its devotees. Whist par- 
ties were made up and sought to rival it in 
attractiveness, but without success. Watch- 
ing the horse-cars from the airy second- 
story windows and spinning yarns passed 
away the time for some, while the how- 
itzer squad spent a good deal of time in 
familiarizing themselves with the use of 
their guns. " Rushing," as it is commonly 
known, was indulged in to some extent by 
the irrepressible fellows overflowing with 
animal spirits, and the query, " Who was 
George Washington ? " which, ever and 
anon, rang through the hall, was sure 
to elicit the usual response, chanted forth 
by several hundred throats. A squad of 
the Eighth Regiment men, who were left 
4 



38 

behind on the departure of that regiment 
for the north, were greeted with loud 
cheers as they marched in to report at 
brigade head-quarters. 

During the day, Justus Schwab, the red- 
flag man, who was to preside at the' Tomp- 
kins Square meeting that night, paid a 
visit of inspection to the armory on the 
invitation of a friend in the command. He 
had but little to say, and while he was 
sharply eyed by the boys, with a rare 
sense of humor, they gave, in his honor, 
as a rousing chorus, " The Son of a Gam- 
bolier." The words of that classic song 
are regimentally adapted ; the first verse 
(of an unlimited number) and the chorus 
are as follows : 



" I 've been in ev'ry country, 

I 've seen the soldiers drill, — 

The Horse Guards of Victoria, 

The Footmen of King Bill, 

The Musketeers of bloody Spain, 

The Cuban volunteer ; 

But the Seventh of New- York 's the corps 

For this Son of a Gambolier. 



39 

Chorus : 

Then combine your humble ditties, 

As from tavern to tavern we steer ; 

Like ev'ry honest fellow, 

I drinks my lager-beer, 

Like ev'ry jolly fellow, 

I takes my whisky clear ; 

I 'm a rambling rake of poverty, 

And the Son of a Gambolier. 

Oh ! I 'm a son of a — son of a — son of a- 

Son of a — son of a Gambolier, 

A son of a — son of a — son of a — son of a — 

Son of a — son of a Gambolier. 

Like ev'ry jolly fellow, 

I takes my whisky clear ; 

I 'm a rambling rake of poverty, 

And the Son of a Gambolier. 

The great German Communist failed 
to appreciate the humor of the song 
which " the boys " caroled forth right 
joyfully, but his eye noted carefully the 
appearance and the quiet look of deter- 
mination under the smiles on the faces of 
the men, and he departed with his respect 
for New- York's citizen soldiery, as typified 
by the Seventh, visibly increased. 

There was no lull in the fun during the 
day, although the older men speculated 



40 

considerably upon the chances of their 
seeing some hot work in more senses 
than one that night 

Meantime, the authorities were not 
idle, and all was activity and subdued 
excitement around police head-quarters 
in Mulberry street and the head-quarters 
of the First Division, where for the mo- 
ment the scene is located. 

General Smith called together the 
Board of Police Commissioners in the 
morning, and, after a protracted consulta- 
tion with his colleagues, sent the following 
communication to the Mayor : 

Police Department of the City of New- ^ 
York, 300 Mulberry Street, 

New-York, July 25, 1877. ) 
To His Honor Smith Ely, Jr., Mayor of the City 

of New -York. 

Sir: The Board of Police of the City of New- 
York, at a meeting thereof regularly convened at 
the Central Office of Police in said city on this 
twenty-fifth day of July, 1877, duly passed the 
following resolutions: 

Resolved, That this Board, by reason of the dis- 
turbances and riots in other cities of this State and 



41 

of the United States, and of threats of like riots 
and tumults in this city, apprehends a riot, tumult, 
and mob within the limits of this municipality, 
and that it therefore demands of and from the 
commanding officer of the military of the First 
Division the assistance of such military, to wit : 
Of the regiments known as the Seventh, Twenty- 
second, Eighth, and the Seventy-first regiments 
of said First Division, pursuant to the statute in 
such case made and provided ; and 

Resolved, That the President of this Board re- 
quest the written approbation of His Honor the 
Mayor of the City of New-York to the foregoing 
resolution, and to the demand therein contained, 
and that the President of this Board, after having 
obtained said approbation, serve a copy of the 
foregoing and of this resolution upon said com- 
manding officer of the military of the First 
Division, and for a demand of the military assist- 
ance hereby required. I remain, sir, your obe- 
dient servant, W. F. Smith. 

To this Mayor Ely sent the following 
answer and indorsement : 

President of the Board of Police : 

I hereby approve of the resolution of the Board 
of Police demanding the assistance of the military 
of the First Division and of such deman'd. 

Smith Ely, Jr., Mayor of New-York. 

City Hall, July 25, 1877. 

Upon the receipt of the Mayor's written 



42 

approval, General Smith addressed the 
following note to General Shaler : 

Major-General A. Shaler, Commanding First 

Division N. G. S. N. Y. 

Sir : Herewith I have the honor to transmit to 
you a copy of two resolutions of the Board of. 
Police of the City of New- York, passed this day as 
and for a demand upon you as commanding 
officer for the assistance of the military of the 
First Division — to wit, the Seventh, Twenty- 
second, Eighth, and Seventy- first regiments — 
together with a copy of the approbation thereof 
of His Honor the Mayor indorsed thereon, the 
original of which said indorsement will be exhib- 
ited to you herewith. And I hereby request you, 
on behalf of the Board of Police, to retain the 
above-mentioned regiments in their respective 
armories, subject to the orders of this Board. 
I am, sir, yours respectfully, 

W. F. Smith. 

General Shaler promptly sent his an- 
swer in the following terms : 

Head-quarters First Division ) 
N. G. S. N. Y., 

New-York, July 27, 1877. S 
General IV. F. Smith, President Police Depart- 
ment, City of New-York. 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the re- 
ceipt of a copy of two resolutions passed at a 



43 



meeting of the Board of Police held this day, 
with the approval of His Honor the Mayor in- 
dorsed thereon, demanding the assistance of the 
Seventh, Eighth, Twenty-second, and Seventy- 
first regiments, and to say that it will afford me 
pleasure to comply with said demand, except 
that I shall be compelled to substitute the Twelfth 
Regiment for the Eighth, which is now en route 
for Buffalo. 

The regiments named are now assembled in 
their respective armories, equipped for service, 
armed with breech-loaders, and each supplied with 
forty rounds of ammunition per man. The armo- 
ries are located as follows : the Seventh Regiment 
at Tompkins Market; Twelfth, Broadway and 
Forty-fifth street; Twenty-second, near Sixth 
avenue, in Fourteenth street; Seventy-first, at 
Broadway, corner of Thirty-sixth street. 

These regiments will be at once directed to hold 
themselves in readiness to respond until further 
orders to any demand which may be made upon 
them by the Board of Police to aid in suppressing 
riot, tumult, or disturbance of the public peace, 
and to obey such orders and instructions as may 
be received direct from said Board of Police or its 
President. Very respectfully yours, 

Alexander Shaler, 

Major-General. 

He then issued his orders to the com- 
manding officers of the various regiments 
designated, substituting, however, the 



44 

Twelfth Regiment for the Eighth. The 
Eighth, it will be remembered, had 
already gone to Buffalo, a fact which 
the Police Commissioners, in the excite- 
ment of the moment, seem to have for- 
gotten. Those received by Colonel 
Clark were as follows : 

Head-quarters First Division i 
N. G. S. N. Y., 

New-York, July 25, 1877. ) 
Commanding Officer Seventh Regiment. 

Sir : The Major-General commanding the 
division directs that you hold your command in 
readiness until further orders, to aid the police 
authorities in the suppression of riot, tumult, or 
disturbance of the public peace, and that you 
obey to the best of your ability such orders and 
instructions given for that purpose as you may 
receive direct from the Police Board or the Presi- 
dent thereof. 

Respectfully yours, 

Carl Jussen, 
Colonel, Division Inspector and Assistant Adju- 
tant-General. 

With the other preparations made by the 
Police Department this story has little to 



45 

do. It is germane to the subject, however, 
in order that the reasons why no trouble 
actually occurred may be understood, that 
they be briefly alluded to. 

The entire detective force was on duty, 
and a part of them were scattered through 
the disaffected quarters of the city east of 
the Bowery and west of Eighth avenue, 
in order to feel the pulse of the dangerous 
elements, and learn their plans if they had 
formed any. This, it appears, they had 
not done, and it soon became evident that 
the danger to be confronted consisted only 
in the readiness with which large gather- 
ings of excited men are inflamed into a 
spirit of violence. 

Arrangements for massing the police 
force at the entrances to Tompkins Square 
and for conveying re-enforcements to that 
place from the various precinct station- 
houses in omnibuses in waiting for the pur- 
pose, and other details suggested by pre- 
vious experience were carefully attended to, 



4 6 

and the knowledge of the facts widely dis- 
seminated, with a view to intimidating the 
mob. That it had the desired effect was 
afterward clearly demonstrated. 

To return to the Seventh Regiment 
Armory. The supper hour arrived, and 
the meal was as noisily and hilariously 
discussed as had been its predecessors. 

After it was concluded, Colonel Clark 
called together the regimental staff and 
the commanding officers of the companies, 
and announced his plans, which are now 
made public for the first time. 

The record of the regiment at the 
Creedmoor rifle ranges was called into 
requisition, and the names of the men in 
each company who had acquired the 
greatest skill as marksmen were taken 
from the roll. These were to be detailed, 
and stationed as follows : a platoon to pre- 
cede the regiment, and another to bring 
up the rear ; two men to be placed on the 
right and two on the left of the line of each 



47 

platoon. These men were to be entrusted 
with the power to fire without orders, and 
were to keep a sharp lookout for persons 
in windows, on house-tops, or in the crowd, 
who should fire upon, hurl stones, or project 
any dangerous missile at the regiment. 
Any person detected in such a demonstra- 
tion they were ordered to shoot down at 
once — and not to miss their aim. The 
remainder of the regiment was to await 
the order to fire. 

These orders, while they may at first 
glance appear hazardous in the extreme, 
from the danger of one of the detailed men 
losing his head and precipitating an attack 
by a reckless shot, have been pronounced 
by able soldiers, experienced in street- 
fighting, as a masterpiece of strategy. 

Street-fighting is acknowledged to be 
most trying ^to the nerves and courage of 
even the most experienced veterans, and 
it becomes doubly so at night. 

A fair field, and the enemy in front, 



4 8 

usually test men's courage. How much 
more trying, therefore, is the venture into 
the streets where the enemy may be, and 
usually is, lodged on the house-tops, in 
windows, and behind trees, from whence 
to hurl a stone, or fire a shot unseen, into 
the ranks of a regiment. 

At the conclusion of the council of war 
in Colonel Clark's little office, it was 7.30 
P. M. Already the crowd had begun to 
assemble in Tompkins Square, but the 
Seventh boys were smoking their after- 
dinner pipes and cigars; groups were car- 
oling forth music-hall ditties ; the devo- 
tees of " draw " were at their favorite 
game of poker, and the spirit of deviltry 
was rampant throughout the large building. 

" Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, rat-a- 
tat- tat, tat- tat- tat. R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r — 
r-r-r-r-r-r-r,rang out the sharp clear rattle 
of the drums. 

In an instant, the careless, happy boys, 
the echo of whose laughter had hardly 



49 

yet died away, became soldiers, ready for 
work. 

Rapidly and quietly they gathered their 
accouterments, and fell in, each company 
in its room, and as each marched out, and 
took its place in line, three hearty cheers 
were given for the " Old Seventh." The 
deep affection of the men for the regiment, 
their enthusiasm, and their determination 
to uphold its honor to the death, rang out 
in those cheers, and a tear glistened in 
many an eye as the last echo of the 
" Tiger " died away among the rafters. 
Then all became quiet in the ranks, and 
the men stood firm and waited orders. 

Forty rounds of ball cartridges were 
served out to each man, and they were 
directed to keep as quiet as possible, and 
to be ready to fall in at a moment's notice. 
Especially were they enjoined to keep 
away from the windows, and avoid show- 
ing themselves to the people in the street 
below. In case any thing was said to 
5 



5o 

them, or any stones or missiles were 
hurled through the windows, they were 
ordered to retire from the company rooms 
to the main hall, and not to make any 
demonstration in return under any cir- 
cumstances. The men then broke ranks 
quietly, and awaited further orders. 

The succeeding two hours were spent in 
quiet but restless excitement. The scene 
was in striking contrast to that of the pre- 
vious evening, when the boys were sky- 
larking at will. They wore serious faces, 
and evidently realized that this was serious 
business. All were in a state of the most 
unenviable uncertainty. 

Among those in uniforms were many 
members of the Veteran Corps, who had 
reported to the commanders of their old 
companies for duty, and voluntarily and 
quietly taken their places in the ranks, for 
the purpose of standing by the honor of 
the " dear old Seventh." 

Many of the younger men were all 



5i 

anxiety for the order to come which should 
send them out to smell powder for the 
first time. 

" Gim'me another bucketful of gore," 
was their cry, in an under tone. 

With the men who had seen service 
before during previous riots, the feeling 
was very different. They were quietly 
determined, and quite prepared to go out 
if it became necessary for them to do so, 
but they were far from anxious. They 
knew from former achievements that it was 
by no means amusing. That there is 
little glory and less comfort in having 
one's head crushed by a brick-bat they 
had learned by experience. In the event 
of trouble, they knew too that the force 
of their example would be beneficial in 
keeping the new men up to their work, so 
they stretched themselves upon the floor, 
and rested upon their arms. 

A longer two hours men rarely know 
than these which the boys so quietly 



52 

passed. They were not even called upon 
to follow the orders about self-control in 
case of hostile demonstrations from with- 
out. The street below was quiet as mid- 
night; its silence only broken at short 
intervals by the tinkle of the bells on the 
car- horses as the cars passed emptily along. 
Yet the air was full of apprehension. 
Occasionally there would be heard a 
sound like a faint cheer, and the men 
lying on the ground would raise them- 
selves on elbow to listen, then all would 
be silent again, and they would fall back, 
pull their caps over their faces, and be at 
rest again. 

Several scouts meanwhile had been 
quietly inspecting the scene of the expected 
disturbance. They had been selected by 
Colonel Clark for their experience, cool- 
ness, and good judgment, and in citzens' 
dress, dispatched at an early hour to 
Tompkins Square. Shortly after nine 
o'clock they returned, and reported what 



53 

was soon known by word of mouth 
throughout the city. 

The majority of persons composing the 
crowd which had assembled in Tompkins 
Square were workingmen drawn thither 
more by curiosity than real interest. The 
dangerous element, cowed by the ample 
and careful preparations made for their 
reception on the part of the authorities, 
civil and military, thought it best and 
safest to remain away. 

The demagogues upon the platform 
made speeches which were meant for fire- 
brands to be hurled among an infuriated 
rabble. They fell upon unsympathetic 
ears, and sounded like " buncombe." The 
crowd dwindled away, the communist 
leaders wrangled among themselves, 
blamed each other for the evening's 
fizzle with school-boy-like crimination 
and recrimination, and the meeting was 
over. 

A few evil spirits made a disturb- 



54 

ance at one of the exits from the 
square. 

Whack, whack, whack descended the 
mighty service clubs of locust wielded by 
able-bodied policemen alike upon the 
heads of the just and the unjust, but the 
disturbance was " nipped i' the bud." 
The much-dreaded communist meeting 
was over, and the continued peace of the 
city fairly well assured. 

Informal notice of the fact that the 
meeting had quietly dispersed was given 
the men, and in a moment the armory 
became again a bedlam. With a roar the 
pent-up feelings of the men broke forth 
like the mighty rush of waters which had 
borne down an impeding dam. The 
hot jackets were stripped off, pipes 
lighted, card-playing resumed, and those 
choice spirits, the "head devils," were 
soon busy concocting schemes to drive 
away that sleep which " knits up the 
raveled sleeve of care." The fatigue 



55 

which followed the excitement and sus- 
pense of the evening added many to the 
list of would-be sleepers that night, and 
the watches of morning found the build- 
ing wrapped in slumber, if the room of 
the tenth company, which was never 
quiet, be excepted. 







IV. 



npHURSDAY morning dawned with 
-*■ the same white, hot sun rising in 
the same pale sky out of which the sun 
seemed to have scorched all the color. 
The air pulsed with the intense heat, but 
still the boys came up smiling, and were 
rewarded by hard-boiled eggs for break- 
fast, a relief from the monotony of Del- 
monico's delicate sandwiches and delicious 
iced coffee. 

Many of the men had not stepped foot 
out of the armory since Monday night, but 
there were no signs of weariness nor any 
disposition to complain. They said, on 
the contrary, that they were just getting 
56 



57 

used to the life, and were willing to stay 
as long as they could be of any use. 

Outside the walls of the armory the city 
was still very quiet and deserted-looking 
for New- York, even in midsummer. The 
Police Commissioners met and fanned 
themselves, congratulated each other upon 
the bloodlessness of the work of the pre- 
vious night, and passed the following reso- 
lution, which was sent to the head-quarters 
of the First Division, and thence trans- 
mitted to the commanding officers of the 
various regiments : 

Resolved, That General Shaler be requested to 
communicate the thanks of this Board to the 
Seventh, Twelfth, Twenty-second, and Seventy- 
first regiments, N. G. S. N. Y., for their services 
while at the disposal of the Police Department, 
July 25, and that he be requested to direct the 
regiments named to remain in their respective 
armories subject to the orders of this Board until 
further notice, unless they should be relieved 
from duty by order of the Governor of the State. 

In the armory, the boys kept the carni- 
val of fun going all day long. Those men, 



58 

whose business imperatively demanded it, 
were given a few hours' furlough by Col. 
Clark in the morning, and appreciated it. 
Only those who really needed the leave 
applied for it. For the rest, they were 
fairly bursting with animal spirits, and 
instead of being subdued by the intense 
heat and close confinement, like good soda- 
water, they only effervesced the more. 

The great conundrum : " Who was G. 
W. ? " was asked and answered a hundred 
times, the boys seemingly increasing with 
each repetition of the answer in their ap- 
preciation of its exquisite absurdity. 

Not satisfied with that, however, some 
one sung out from the midst of a crowd : 

" Who was Ben. Butler ? " 

" First in war, first in peace, first in 
the hearts of his countrymen / chanted a 
couple of hundred throats, and bang, bang, 
bang, went twice as many feet in the regu- 
lation break-down which followed. 

Here was a new idea, and with charac- 



59 

teristic avidity the crowd seized upon it, 
and bandied it about from mouth to 
mouth, hundreds of voices and more feet 
being ever ready with the response. 

" Who was Fanny Herring ? " 

First in war ! first in peace !! first in the 
hearts of her countrymen !!! came promptly 
from the grinning crowd. 

"Who was Jay Gould? " 

(Same answer.) 

" Who was Bill Tweed ? " 

(Same answer.) 

" Who was Madame Blavatsky ? " from 
a youth of theosophical propensities. 

That was too — too much. 

" Put him out ! Bounce him ! " they 
cried, and bounced he was with equal grav- 
ity and promptitude. 

So through a list of well-known names 
the favorite gag was kept going, yielding 
unmeasured fun to men, who had been 
men not long enough to be hardened but, 
still men in the fight for life and honor 



6o 

which the world brings, long enough to be 
glad of an opportunity to act like school- 
boys again. 

The regimental sky-rocket, which had 
been for a time neglected by reason of the 
tremendous popularity of the new gag, 
" Who was G. W. ? " was at length resur- 
rected, and the "Swish-h-h-h — Boom — 
Ah-h-h-h," which is so exactly like the 
sound which accompanies a rocket's 
flight, alternated with the great conun- 
drum. It was sent up countless times 
during the day, and cheer upon cheer 
rang through the old market until at 
least half of the men were speechless from 
hoarseness. An extra dinner in courses 
was served to them. Shortly after the 
conclusion of the meal, a procession issued 
from one of the company rooms, fantasti- 
cally dressed and preceded by a band car- 
rying toy drums and trumpets, and beating 
and blowing them lustily. A banner was 
borne by one of the men, inscribed "Jen- 



6i 

nie's Guard." They made the round of 
the hall amid the wildest enthusiasm. 

The heat made the men thirsty. Count- 
less buckets of ice-water were consumed 
from the cedar by means of tin cups. Ice- 
water taken alone in quantities is well 
known to be injurious, and this accounted 
for the frequency with which men were 
seen retiring to corners, and taking the 
chill off the water with something which 
they poured out of a black flask. 

There are probably very few, if any, 
drinking men in the regiment, but still 
many of the boys, naturally enough, like a 
" nip " occasionally, and various were the 
schemes concocted to obtain it. Naturally 
the first thing hit upon was the very sim- 
ple expedient of hoisting a flask upon a 
string from the hands of friends in the 
street below. This worked well for a 
time, until the Colonel placed a guard out- 
side the building and put a stop to it At 
the same time an order was issued, and 

6 



62 

all the men going in and out were 
" sounded " for bottles by the guard. 
Notwithstanding these precautions, how- 
ever, a few sober-minded young men 
managed to keep a well-filled flask in 
their lockers. How this was accomplished 
still remains a mystery, which, as it may 
again serve the boys a good turn at some 
future day, it would be ungenerous to 
attempt to solve. 

From the tenth company room came 
a suggestion that " Polo " might be 
played in the big drill-room upstairs. 
The proposal took like wild-fire, and the 
regiment adjourned en masse to the scene 
of the sport. 

Sides were quickly chosen, a member 
of the Westchester Polo Club explained 
the rules of the game, and a dozen brawny 
youths, with big bunches of muscle show- 
ing through their clear skins, were selected 
for ponies. The goals were placed at 
opposite sides of the room, a manager 



63 

chosen, brooms provided to do duty as 
mallets, and, armed with these, the players 
were soon mounted on the strong and 
willing backs of their alleged ponies. 

The manager called " Time" amid roars 
of laughter from the crowd, and tossed the 
ball, which was improvised from a towel 
tied up with a string, in the air. The 
official report of the game was as follows : 

First Game. — Grand charge for the 
ball. (Wild cheering from the specta- 
tors.) First man makes a pass at the 
ball, burns his pony's ear with his cigar, 
and is thrown. Second player and his 
pony stumble over him and fall also. 
Meanwhile, other players make wild passes 
at the ball, which at length is knocked over 
the goal and out of the window. Players 
dismount amid great enthusiasm. 

Second to Twentieth Games. — Same as 
first. 

At the conclusion of the first game a 
voice cried out, 



6 4 

" What is Polo ? " 

" First in War / First in Peace / / First 
in the hearts of its Countrymen / ! ! " came 
the response, followed by unnumbered 
sky-rockets and wild cheers. 

For an hour or more, polo proved suf- 
ficiently amusing to hold the undivided 
attention of the regiment The players 
and the ponies panted from their exer- 
tions, and glistened with perspiration which 
sprinkled their play-ground as it dripped 
from their faces under the influence of 
such violent exercise, with the temperature 
at ninety-odd degrees in the shade. They 
tumbled over each other, they collided, 
and went down in indiscriminate heaps of 
strong, bare, brown arms and gray legs, 
they shouted, they filled the air with eva- 
nescent witticisms, and they sang. The 
hours flew by, and, wearying of polo, not 
a moment elapsed before helter-skelter 
down- stairs they ran, and in a few mo- 
ments two hundred coatless braves were 



65 

in line as strikers, and, headed by a ban- 
ner inscribed with the legend, 



NO 


MONEY. 


NO 


HASH. 


NO 


WORK. 



they made the round of the armory, pick- 
ing up recruits, and finally waited on 
Colonel Clark, and presented him with an 
address, in which he was informed that 
the boys demanded $10 per diem and 
four square meals. 

Colonel Clark, who thoroughly enjoyed 
the fun, made the boys a brief, good- 
natured speech and beat a hasty retreat 
to his snug little den under the stairs, 
where for four days he sweltered good- 
humoredly. 

Supper-time found the boys with good 
appetites, and, refreshed by their perform- 



66 

ances with " Del's " cutlery, they returned 
with great zest to the pursuit of pleasure 
under difficulties. 

An amusing travesty of the Pittsburg 
riots, and the disgraceful rout of the militia, 
and an undress rehearsal of the meeting 
in Tompkins Square, filled up the hours 
for the noisy gang, while the elder men 
settled down to poker, and, in some cases, 
to a vain endeavor to woo the drowsy 
god. 




T^RIDAY morning dawned upon the 
-*- city, and found the boys tirelessly 
happy, notwithstanding the appalling heat, 
and the fact that no definite prospect of 
release from confinement came with it. 
It was the fourth, and as it proved the 
last day. 

At Division Head- quarters, a copy of 
the following resolution, passed by the 
Police Commissioners, was received : 

"Resolved, That His Honor the Mayor be in- 
formed that in the opinion of this Board it is not 
necessary to continue on duty the Seventh, 
Twelfth, Twenty-second and Seventy-first regi- 
ments at their respective armories subject to the 
order of the Police Board. The Board takes this 
opportunity to express to His Honor the Mayor 
6 7 



68 

its appreciation of the desire of the several regi- 
ments named to co-operate cordially with the 
Police Department while under its order." 

This, while it was a gratifying assurance 
as to the probability of the continuation 
of quiet in the city, brought no prospect 
of release to the men who had been or- 
dered under arms by the Governor of the 
State. That they would be dismissed 
from duty until the Governor was assured 
that order had been restored to the entire 
State was not probable. 

News from the absent Eighth and Ninth 
regiments was anxiously looked for by 
the Seventh boys. Colonel Scott, of the 
Eighth, sent down during the day merry 
telegrams to various officers. " Happy as 
a clam," " Lovely as a rose." From the 
Ninth, at Albany, the latest news was 
brought by ex- Colonel Braine, who had 
gone up with the regiment, and returned. 
He reported the boys in fine spirits, en- 
countering the heats of July with fortitude. 



6 9 

Everything being quiet in the city, leave 
was granted during the day to many of the 
men to go to their homes and places of 
business for a few hours. 

General Varian was still on duty in his 
head-quarters, which he had established in 
the officers' parlor, as he had been contin- 
uously from the start. Here the time had 
been passed in chatting, story- telling, and 
popping champagne corks. The time was 
shortened by the stories of the chief medi- 
cal officer of the staff, who is acknowledged 
the best raconteur that New- York can 
boast. Occasionally, the uproar without 
would start all hands for the drill-room, to 
laugh at the boys' fun. By Friday, how- 
ever, the staff officers grew weary, and half 
of them obtained leave, reporting for duty 
again, however, promptly at six o'clock. 
At ten o'clock in the morning, Mayor 
Ely and the Board of Police Commission- 
ers visited the armory, and were received 
by Colonel Clark. As soon as it became 



known that they were in the building, the 
boys prepared to give them a reception, 
and the company rooms were decorated. 
One company laid out as its coat- of- arms 
four aces and a king, surmounted by a 
whisky bottle rampant ; another mounted 
a fine miniature battery of black ale-bot- 
tles. As the visitors passed from room 
to room the boys cheered vigorously, and 
finally informed them that George Wash- 
ington, Esq., was first in peace, etc. The 
Mayor was very much amused, and 
requested to be shown a game of polo,, an 
account of which he had read in the morn- 
ing newspapers. The boys, nothing loth, 
made their preparations, and then His 
Honor was escorted by the " Jennie " 
Guards to the large drill-room, where a 
seat of honor, flanked by the regimental 
colors, had been provided for him. Several 
games of polo were played, and then the 
demands of the strikers of the night before 
were referred to the Mayor, who read 
them with huge enjoyment, after which he 



7i 

went out amid a flight of " sky-rockets." 

The armory then settled down to quietude. 

Suddenly the following orders were 

posted up in various parts of the building: 

Head-quarters Continental Galoots, ) 
New-York, July 27, 1877. £ 
General Orders, ) 
No. 19,000,000. $ 
The Galoots will assemble this evening in 
full regalia at the Adjutant's call, which will be 
sounded at 9.00 G.M. 

Field and Staff dismounted. No police. No 
flowers. 

The Telephone Corps will report to the Adju- 
tant half an hour before the formation. 

By order of Col. WALTER S. WILSON. 
W. A. Lentilhon, 

Brevet Lt.-Col. & Adjutant. 
(Official.) 

" A Mock Parade ? " 

"Yes" — was the query and answer, 
which passed around. The signatures were 
those of the two young men, members of 
the tenth company, who had been the 
foremost in all the deviltry of the three 
preceding days. 



72 

A spirit of emulation was aroused, and 
each company began making its prepara- 
tions for participating in the fun, and out- 
doing if possible its fellows in the ab- 
surdity of its costume, and the originality 
of its contribution to the general quota of 
amusement. 

An offer of the use of the swimming 
baths, which was received, was communi- 
cated to the men, accompanied by permis- 
sion to avail themselves of it should they 
like to do so. But they had other busi- 
ness on hand, and hardly a corporal's 
guard were lured by the offer of a swim, 
although it was a day to make a man wish 
himself amphibious. Later on a florist 
sent in, with his compliments, a superb 
flower piece of colossal size, containing as 
a device an American flag and the figure 
" 7." Some of the men found that the 
coping beneath the second-story windows 
was wide enough to hold a chair comforta- 
bly, and it was soon filled with a row of 



73 

statues, after the manner of that of the 
late Mr. Seward. 

All the afternoon and evening the doors 
of the company rooms opening on the 
main hall remained closed to every one 
but their own members, who ran in and 
out at intervals, and carried bundles and 
dispatched messengers with a delightful 
air of secrecy. It was quite evident that 
some event of unusual importance was on 
foot. 

Mysterious packages, paint-pots and 
other unmilitary paraphernalia were smug- 
gled into the company rooms, and the ar- 
morer and janitor was driven nearly out of 
his head by the demands made upon him 
for supplies unknown to him theretofore as 
being among the requisites of a first-class 
militia regiment. 

Quiet reigned to such an unwonted 

degree that Colonel Clark anxiously 

poked his head out of the door of his 

little sanctum at intervals, and surveyed 

7 



74 

the deserted hall-way with a dubious 
smile. Finally some one called his atten- 
tion to the orders quoted above, when he 
grinned and retired with a re-assured air to 
his office. 

Supper-time arrived, the meal was dis- 
patched hastily and in comparative silence, 
and the men beat a rapid retreat again 
through the firmly closed doors of the 
company rooms, where they remained 
until nine o'clock. Peals of laughter 
occasionally rang out from behind the 
closed doors, but the men were invisible. 

A committee waited on Brigadier- Gen- 
eral Varian and staff and Colonel Clark 
and the regimental staff, and invited them 
to the main drill-room on the floor above, 
where seats had been provided for them 
on a table, a number of civilians who had 
been invited down, or who had heard of 
the fun going on daily and nightly at the 
armory, were admitted by the Colonel's 
orders, and all was in readiness. 



75 

In a few moments the companies began 
to issue from their rooms and form in 
line. The reason for the closed doors 
and subdued bustle which had pervaded 
the company rooms during the day was 
at once apparent. The first company 
wore its regimental trousers turned inside 
out, and was naked from the waist up, 
and a gigantic figure " 7 " was painted in 
black on each man's bare breast, except 
that of the darky water-carrier, who was 
elegantly attired in a similar white- chalk 
figure. Another company appeared as 
Highlanders in blanket kilts. A third 
wore uniforms made of brown paper in 
the Continental style, with the inquiring 
legend on each man's back in large letters, 
"Who was G. W. ?" 

Still another company was arrayed in 
large flour sacks, and one company was 
composed of stuffy-looking fat men. A 
battery was organized, and came solemnly 
upon the scene dragging by a ponderous 



7 6 

harness a toy cannon about two inches 
long. The line was formed with about 
four hundred men. The crowd of specta- 
tors was kept back by a detachment bur- 
lesquing the "finest police force in the 
world," who plied their • (stuffed) clubs 
with equal impartiality and vigor. The 
absurdity of the scene was heightened by 
the pride taken by the men, fantastically 
dressed as they were, in executing the 
orders they received with the same pre- 
cision which distinguishes them when 
upon duty, and the line was as straight 
as it was all the way down Broadway in 
"61." The Colonel then took his place 
in front of the line with an enormous 
feather- duster plume in his cap, and with 
so many pairs of stockings in the breast 
of his coat that he greatly resembled a 
pouter pigeon. With much difficulty he 
folded his arms above this expansive 
breast and maintained an air of dignity so 
like Colonel Clark's that he was greeted 



77 

with enthusiastic cheers and shouts of 
laughter from the audience. The Adju- 
tant, who was dressed in a costume of 
decorative flags, and looked like a Bedouin 
Arab, then formed the parade in the most 
accurate manner, and read the following 
orders : 

Head-quarters Continental Galoots, ~\ 

National Guard, J. A. M. S. N. Y. , \ 

Camp Hardscrabble, July 27, 1877. ) 

General Orders, > 
No. 19,000,001. S 

Paragraph 1. In compliance with a general 
order received from Albany in a disgustingly sud- 
den manner, about four minutes ago, this com- 
mand will parade in night-shirts, without sleeves, 
at six inches past two o'clock, to-morrow (Saturday) 
morning. Captains of companies will see that 
their men are provided with twelve years' rations, 
consisting of the following, viz. : 

1 Chromo of George Washington, with the 
usual conundrum attached. 
17 Bologna Sausages. 
1 Thumb Tack. 
14 Tuns of Holland Gin. 
8 Reinas, Hoboken Brand. 
1 Sock, " Bill Heath " calibre. 
93 Fish-Balls. 



78 



21 Nutmeg Graters, 
i Derrick, 
i Ounce of Minnie Gudgeons. 

And, "in case of fire," one small "stash of 
fluid." 

Each 1st Sergeant will see that his company is 
supplied with one cake of Soft Soap for purposes 
of occasional ablution. 

Paragraph 2. There having been a land-slide 
in Skeneateles, which village is situated on the Har- 
lem River, between Goose Creek and Podunk, 
four hundred miles from the Elysian Fields, and 
ninety-three inches from the dumping grounds, the 
Galoots will occupy the left bank of the aforesaid 
stream, and attend to the slaughter of the nimble 
potato-bug. 

However, this is neither here nor there. 

In crushing these riots, the betting is 100 to 60 
that we are liable to receive the " grand cough " ; 
in consequence of which each and every man, 
without regard to sex, will furnish himself with a 
diving-bell and book of directions. 

Paragraph 3. The Commandant will how go 
on to state that this is all ; adding, however, paren- 
thetically, that owing to circumstances of a suspi- 
cious nature, he has not tasted flesh for seventeen 
long years. 

Flesh includes fluid. 

He is now prepared to wallow in great lakes and 
lagoons of Rhenish wine. And for no cause. 

Paragraph 4. Major Chas. Snively is hereby 
appointed Officer of the Day — for last night, and 



79 

handsome Badgely will be Officer of the Guard — 
with a large copper. 

By order of 

Col. Walter S. Wilson. 

W. A. Lentilhon, 

Brevet Lt.-Col. & Adjutant. 
(Official.) 

These orders were received with peals of 
laughter, eliciting the stern command 
from the flatulent Colonel : 

" Silence in the ranks ! " 

The "beat-off" by the drum-corps and 
band, who were equipped with drums of 
tin wash-basins and toy trumpets, the 
Drum- Major being a side-splitting carica- 
ture of that gorgeous functionary, was 
again cheered. When the command of the 
regiment was turned over to the Colonel 
by the Adjutant, that officer led out 
and introduced " Governor Robinson," in 
the person of an imposing and bald-headed 
sergeant, who was dressed in a black 
frock and an old-fashioned and gigantic 
beaver. The " Governor " made a short 



8o 

speech in the most approved stump-orator 
style, in the course of which he irrelevantly- 
remarked several hundred times that "if 
there was one thing more than another 
that was it," and that, however, this was 
" neither here nor there " and " for no 
cause." 

He finished his address by the statement 
that he would proceed at once to solve the 
Eastern question. 

" Attention!! " yelled the alleged Col- 
onel, and every man cleared his throat 
with an effect like the "grand cough." 

The " Governor " solemnly removed the 
American flag which had been thrown over 
a flour barrel behind him, raised the barrel, 
turned it on end, and extracted from be- 
neath it a small plaster bust of George 
Washington, which he gravely placed 
upon the bottom of the barrel, and re- 
moved his hat. 

"Who was George Washington?" yelled 
the Adjutant. 



8i 

Then, with a mighty roar from the nine 
hundred throats in the lines and the au- 
dience, came the response : 

" First in War ! FIRST IN PEACE !! 
FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS 
COUNTRYMEN!!!" And this was 
emphasized with a double-headed break- 
down which shook the walls, and made 
the floors tremble mightily. 

The lines having been opened, the 
alleged Governor inspected the troops, ac- 
companied by the Colonel, Adjutant and 
Lieutenant- Colonel. The latter was ex- 
tremely amusing in his dress, which was 
white, with two soda crackers for epau- 
lets and two lemons for coat-tails, and he 
was obese to the last degree. He demon- 
strated the duties of his office by frequently 
wiping the Colonel's nose and giving him 
an occasional puff on his cigar. The 
Governor bowed blandly and inconse- 
quently in every direction, and when intro- 
duced by the Colonel to the captains as 






82 

they passed, immediately grabbed and 
fervently shook the hand of the nearest 
private, after the manner of the machine 
politician. The artillery fired a salute 
for the Governor, the building shaking 
with the detonation of the piece, which 
made a sound like a small fire-cracker. 

Then the men were put through the 
manual of arms and the battalion drill. 
The precision of their movements under 
the voluntary command of some of the 
youngest men in the ranks spoke volumes 
for the efficiency of the regiment, and 
pleased Colonel Clark greatly. The spec- 
tators were aroused to so great a pitch of 
enthusiasm that cheer after cheer rang out 
as the men executed difficult movements, 
and culminated, when, after a marching 
salute to General Varian, the parade was 
dismissed, in a mighty yell of delight. 

The fun reached a climax in that memo- 
rable " shindig " just in time. 

An hour afterward, " Camp Hard- 



83 

scrabble " was broken up by order of the 
Governor of the State. 

The order disbanding the New-York 
militia reached the Seventh Regiment Ar- 
mory about 11.30 o'clock. Some of the 
men had gone to bed, but the majority 
were still engaged in their evening revelry. 
The order was passed around, but it did not 
create a great amount of feeling one way 
or the other. While many of the elder 
and more staid members were glad to be 
released and to return to their homes, 
some of the younger received the order 
with apparent regret. Then there was 
lively bustling throughout the company 
rooms as the men hastened to change 
their regimentals for their civilian cos- 
tumes. The ammunition which had been 
issued to the boys was returned and 
accounted for, after which the regiment 
was disbanded by companies. The men 
performed these duties in a quiet, business- 
like manner, the only sign of enthusiasm 



8 4 

being manifested as each company was 
dismissed, when three cheers were given. 
The men were allowed to take their knap- 
sacks to enable them to unpack such arti- 
cles as had been placed in them in antici- 
pation of a possible transfer to some other 
part of the State. So for an hour or two, 
well-dressed young men were seen carry- 
ing knapsacks through the streets adjacent 
to the armory, making their way home by 
devious routes. Now and then they were 
jeered by corner loafers, but no notice of 
this was taken, and the streets were soon 
as quiet as ever. Colonel Clark sat in his 
room in the armory half an hour after the 
order had been read. He leaned back 
negligently in an easy chair, and it could 
easily be seen that a burden had been 
lifted from his shoulders. " I felt that the 
responsibility resting upon me was great," 
said the Colonel. " My anxiety did not 
arise altogether from the anticipation of an 
impending riot and its effects upon the 



85 

city; I felt the responsibility of handling 
my men with discretion in case such a 
thing did happen. A large proportion of 
them are young, and have mothers," said 
he, feelingly, " and had any of them been 
killed there is no knowing where the blame 
would have been placed. But since Wed- 
nesday night I have felt that the whole 
danger was over." Those of the men and 
officers who lived out of town remained at 
the armory over night. 

When these departed in the morning, 
" Camp Hardscrabble " was broken up 
forever. Its memory will, however, last as 
long as any of the men who passed those 
four days in the armory shall live. 
More : it will be remembered by those 
who derived, in no small degree, a feel- 
ing of immunity from danger while the 
boys were camped down in the old Mar- 
ket. Men who know how to play know 
how to fight. They did not fight, they 
suffered only minor discomforts, but they 



86 

were there, and behind them were the 
traditions of the regimental past, dear to 
the heart of every New- York man, woman 
and child, and thrice dear to " the boys " 
themselves. 

" What is the Seventh Regiment ? " 
" Now then, all together " 

THE END. 




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Since The World's Employment Office was opened on October 21, 1878, 
11,988 Employers have been supplied with suitable servants. 

REPORT OF 

The World's Employment Office, 

For the Year Ending Oct. 21, 1879. 

Servants Servants Servants Employers 
applied. admitted, placed. applied. 

15,451 
Reregistered 5,047 



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Chambermaids- 3,382 

General housework 1,182 

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Miscellaneous— Females 606 

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Coachmen and Grooms 1, 184 

Miscellaneous— Males - - . 2, 1 42 



Totals 15,451 

Reapplied and admitted 5,047 



12,916 


10,138 


11,988 


5,047 






17,963 


10,138 


11,988 


2,434 


3,102* 




2,959 


2,821 




933 


1,428* 




690 


594 




1,366 


1,026 




286 


375* 




272 


120 




539 


164 




842 


232 




813 


117 




1,782 


159 




12,916 


10,138 


11,988 


5,047 







Totals 20,498 17,963 10,13S 11,988 

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